Rookie cop Jeff Postell’s life would change forever when he found a man digging through a dumpster in Murphy, North Carolina. The man said his name was “Jerry Wilson,” but he had an awfully familiar face.
 
 Host, Writer: Becca Andrews
Host, Writer: John Archibald
Executive Producer, Co-Creator: John Hammontree
Audio Engineer: Daniel Potter
Field Producer: Sarah Whites-Koditscheck
Social Producers: Caroline Vincent, Mila Olivera
Logo Design: DJB Design
Theme Music: “Birmingham” by Beth Thornley and Rob Cairns Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Rookie cop Jeff Postell’s life would change forever when he found a man digging through a dumpster in Murphy, North Carolina. The man said his name was “Jerry Wilson,” but he had an awfully familiar face. Host, Writer: Becca Andrews Host, Writer: John Archibald Executive Producer, Co-Creator: John Hammontree Audio Engineer: Daniel Potter Field Producer: Sarah Whites-Koditscheck Social Producers: Caroline Vincent, Mila Olivera Logo Design: DJB Design Theme Music: “Birmingham” by Beth Thornley and Rob Cairns Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rookie cop Jeff Postell’s life would change forever when he found a man digging through a dumpster in Murphy, North Carolina. The man said his name was “Jerry Wilson,” but he had an awfully familiar face.
 
 Host, Writer: Becca Andrews
Host, Writer: John Archibald
Executive Producer, Co-Creator: John Hammontree
Audio Engineer: Daniel Potter
Field Producer: Sarah Whites-Koditscheck
Social Producers: Caroline Vincent, Mila Olivera
Logo Design: DJB Design
Theme Music: “Birmingham” by Beth Thornley and Rob Cairns Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="noopener noreferrer">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Ch. 7: "Jerry Wilson"

The Olympics explode on a July night in 1996. The largest pipe bomb the country has ever seen. A string of bombings shakes Atlanta for the next year.
Thousands of photos and videos produce one blurry image of the attacker, a photo so grainy the FBI called him “Blob Man.” Agents zero in on the wrong man, the media follows suit, and the real bomber slips away.
Until Birmingham. In Alabama, the Blob Man finally makes a misstep. He detonates another bomb, but this time someone sees something. A college student asks himself a question: Why, when everyone else is rushing to see what happened, is that man running away?
That curious student breaks open what was then the largest manhunt in U.S. history: the search for Eric Robert Rudolph. 
Years pass. No trace. Does he have help? Is he planning more attacks?
In American Shrapnel, the latest podcast from the Murrow-winning Alabama Media Group, join 2x Pulitzer Prize winner John Archibald and award-winning journalist Becca Andrews as they track the path of destruction — from the bombings, through the manhunt, and back to the twisted politics that fueled it. You’ll hear the stories of survivors, radicals and heroes.
This isn’t a story of the past. The anger that fueled it has only grown stronger today.

Society & Culture

Documentary

True Crime

History

The Olympics explode on a July night in 1996. The largest pipe bomb the country has ever seen. A string of bombings shakes Atlanta for the next year. Thousands of photos and videos produce one blurry image of the attacker, a photo so grainy the FBI called him “Blob Man.” Agents zero in on the wrong man, the media follows suit, and the real bomber slips away. Until Birmingham. In Alabama, the Blob Man finally makes a misstep. He detonates another bomb, but this time someone sees something. A college student asks himself a question: Why, when everyone else is rushing to see what happened, is that man running away? That curious student breaks open what was then the largest manhunt in U.S. history: the search for Eric Robert Rudolph. Years pass. No trace. Does he have help? Is he planning more attacks? In American Shrapnel, the latest podcast from the Murrow-winning Alabama Media Group, join 2x Pulitzer Prize winner John Archibald and award-winning journalist Becca Andrews as they track the path of destruction — from the bombings, through the manhunt, and back to the twisted politics that fueled it. You’ll hear the stories of survivors, radicals and heroes. This isn’t a story of the past. The anger that fueled it has only grown stronger today.

The Olympics explode on a July night in 1996. The largest pipe bomb the country has ever seen. A string of bombings shakes Atlanta for the next year.
Thousands of photos and videos produce one blurry image of the attacker, a photo so grainy the FBI called him “Blob Man.” Agents zero in on the wrong man, the media follows suit, and the real bomber slips away.
Until Birmingham. In Alabama, the Blob Man finally makes a misstep. He detonates another bomb, but this time someone sees something. A college student asks himself a question: Why, when everyone else is rushing to see what happened, is that man running away?
That curious student breaks open what was then the largest manhunt in U.S. history: the search for Eric Robert Rudolph.&nbsp;
Years pass. No trace. Does he have help? Is he planning more attacks?
In American Shrapnel, the latest podcast from the Murrow-winning Alabama Media Group, join 2x Pulitzer Prize winner John Archibald and award-winning journalist Becca Andrews as they track the path of destruction — from the bombings, through the manhunt, and back to the twisted politics that fueled it. You’ll hear the stories of survivors, radicals and heroes.
This isn’t a story of the past. The anger that fueled it has only grown stronger today.

Share Ch. 7: "Jerry Wilson"

Sign up to save your podcasts

Ch. 7: "Jerry Wilson"

Ch. 7: "Jerry Wilson"

More shows like American Shrapnel

Criminal

20/20

Revisionist History

48 Hours

DISGRACELAND

American History Tellers

American Scandal

Dateline NBC

The Binge Cases: My Mother's Lies

Paper Ghosts: The Texas Teen Murders

Betrayal Season 5

Bone Valley

Wisecrack

Tough Cookie: The Wally “Famous” Amos Story